A design mock-up of SW Barbur with a dedicated and separated bikeway. Illustration is by Owen Walz, a planning student and co-founder of “Friends of Barbur.”

Friends of Barbur is a grassroots advocacy group started by citizen activists Kiel Johnson and Owen Walz. Their goal? To turn SW Barbur Blvd. — a high-speed state highway (99W) that runs adjacent to I-5 south of Portland — into a more comfortable place to ride a bike. Kiel (who you might recall as the Bike Train guy) and Owen (a freelance 3D modeler and sketch artist for design firms) combined forces to create a more bike-friendly vision of Barbur as their project for the Portland State University Traffic and Transportation class.

Transportation activist and BikePortland contributor Steve Bozzone asked Kiel and Owen a few questions about their efforts… But first, here’s one more of those amazing illustrations of what a bike-friendly would Barbur could look like..

(Owen Walz)

What inspired you two to create Friends of Barbur?

“What would happen if the 1,000 people who ride Barbur everyday showed up in front of ODOT and wouldn’t leave until ODOT decided to make some improvements? I want to find out.”— Kiel Johnson, Friends of Barbur

Owen: We’ve both had to brave this route many times, having both lived in outer SW while maintaining busy lives in town. I chose to investigate cycling improvements along Barbur as part of my coursework at PSU’s Traffic and Transportation class. Kiel, having heard discussion of the issue in the activist community, joined in on the project as a community liaison. It occurred to us that we should try to keep some momentum going after the class, and form a group to unite the various parties interested in improving Barbur.

Kiel: There are few places left in Portland where you are forced to ride your bike next to cars going 50 mph. Whether or not you believe in God you start talking to him when you share one of the unlit bridges on Barbur with cars. During one of these experience I promised God that if he let me safely cross this bridge I would do everything I could to make Barbur a safer place for all people using it. Now if I die while going up Barbur at least people will be able to say, “he tried to make it better”.

You recently held a meeting about this project with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), how did that go?

Kiel: Everyone at the meeting was very receptive. There is a lot of enthusiasm and momentum for getting some improvements along Barbur. The challenge is going to be effectively channeling all that energy and getting as many people on board so that the Oregon Department of Transportation has to make some changes. Everyone has something to say about Barbur but if we are all yelling at ODOT nothing is going to happen. We need to create one really loud voice that they cannot ignore. This voice needs to include not just bicyclists, but motorists, pedestrians, and transit users.

Now…

when!?

As far as you know, has anyone else worked on similar efforts in the past?

Kiel: Yes, the Oregon Department of Transportation has looked into making improvements several times. Currently there are a lot of tools — like bike sharrows and separated cycle tracks — that the Portland Bureau of Transportation have been successfully applying throughout Portland. We want the Oregon Department of Transportation to consider some of these tools to make Barbur a safer place.

Owen: It’s clear that multiple organizations have been discussing the state of Barbur for a while now (including the BTA). There are plans involving the area, including one referred to as the ‘SW Corridor Refinement Plan.’ My impression was that most were long-term, ambitious plans. We heard about a plan that would route active transportation onto an extension of the SW Trails system running parallel to Barbur (potentially adding new bike/ped bridges along the way).

Who else is interested in seeing improvements to Barbur? Who would most benefit from them?

“Only 9% of all cyclists on Barbur are female, the lowest ratio of any bike route in Portland.”

Kiel: It is very important to talk about how doing this would benefit all Barbur users, not just cyclists. When I drive up Barbur I am very anxious that I am going to hit a cyclist. Sharing the road at such high speeds creates a dangerous situation for cars too, as they try to change lanes and rapidly slow down. Pedestrians would also benefit. Improving the bridge crossings would also create more room and distance from cars to be a pedestrian.

Right now Barbur is for the “Strong and the Fearless” and the “I just don’t have any other choice” rider. Only 9% of all cyclists on Barbur are female, the lowest ratio of any bike route in Portland. If we figure out why this number is so low we can make Barbur a safe bicycling option for many more people. Barbur connects many SW neighborhoods to the rest of Portland and if we are going to make bicycling a useful option to the 36,000 people who live in SW Portland we need to make Barbur a safer place to ride your bike.

Owen: Surprisingly there are a great deal of commuters using Barbur already (1,000 average daily bike trips by one count), and certainly their interests are in mind. In addition to working commuters, certainly the student population at Lewis and Clark would appreciate easier access to central Portland.

What’s next for Friends of Barbur? What can interested individuals do to support your work?

Kiel: Once we have developed a plan we want to do everything possible to make sure the people at ODOT know about it and know that there is support behind it. This will involve going around and getting community groups and businesses on board and showing up at ODOT with all these people. It took several years and lot of people standing in front of City Hall before Copenhagen decided to create the bike infrastructure it has today, there is no reason to think that Portland is any different. What would happen if the 1,000 people who ride Barbur everyday showed up in front of ODOT and wouldn’t leave until ODOT decided to make some improvements? I want to find out.

Owen: I would encourage interested individuals stay in touch with the BTA on this issue, as they would likely be involved with any proposal put forth. We’ve started a Facebook page called ‘Friends of Barbur.’ We hope the that number of ‘Likes’ that accumulate there will give a sense of how many people support improvements in the area. We would love to see any design suggestions posted to the ‘Friends of Barbur’ wall.

—

You heard them folks, get over to the Friends of Barbur Facebook page to learn more and show your support of this effort. These guys have the skills and the energy to keep this going. I wonder if this will be the first Facebook-based transportation activism effort that gains some traction in Portland?

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113 Comments

OnTheRoadDecember 10, 2010 at 11:52 am

The section of Barbur I’m more familar with is between SW Hamilton north to where Barbur branches left and Naito goes down to the RI Bridge.

Almost everyday, someone going south on Barbur in this section makes an illegal left-hand turn easterly onto the side streets leading down to Corbett. Illegal because they are crossing double-double yellow lines to make the turn.

Have to be especially alert through there. Seems like a different bike lane treatment would be needed here than illustrated above, since there are few side streets coming into Barbur in the stretch between Hamilton south to Terwilliger.

The bike lanes illustrated look like a good solution for the bridge section and the high-speed sections

Thank you to all people involved in this. Barbur is indeed a frustrating route. Primarily it’s the flattest and most convenient route up the hill to the west side, however the high-speed traffic makes it more comfortable to take steeper or longer routes like Terwilliger or the cemetery. I would be happy to help with this.

Great design for the cycle track section. I’m really impressed with angled “turtles” to emphasize the grapde separation. Particulary important for the uphill section where the speed differential between bikes/cars is going to be greatest. kudos

I’m not that easily spooked on a bike and riding on Barbur Blvd. in either direction scares me. The most dangerous part is where Naito Pwky. merges from the right side onto Barbur (heading to the west side). I always feel like I am going to get hit from behind by merging traffic.

It’s trite but I’ve learned to take the lane there… I thought that was insane there, but one time I was waiting in the cross walk and the car in the leftlane stopped, the person behind him swerved into the right lane, and the person behind him started augering into the sidewalk…

Also, it’s not that well-lit. I’d be riding home in between midnight and 2am when the road is full of drunks. I know being rea-end on a bike is not the most likely scenario, but it is the only way I have been hit by a car on a bike.

I’ve ridden on other streets that people call dangerous, like Hawthorne, Division, Colubia, MLK, 39th, etc. and none of them bother me the way Barbur does. Maybe it’s because it is in between the city and the suburbs and sort of feels like a no-mans-land where if you did get hit nobody would find you until the morning.

Below is a link to google streetview of the place I think that Skid is talking about. My usual bicycle route to work for the last 7 years takes me through that spot. Making the merge vehicularly is about as safe as going onto the “jug handle” sidewalk and waiting for the traffic to clear, in my opinion. That’s because of the problem that Skid points out: one lane of traffic stops, and the other doesn’t. I end up doing the jug handle about half the time.

I used to ride Barbur everyday into downtown – 8 years worth since the office moved up there from the bottom of Macadam.

Although it could be perfected as proposed above – I have never had issue with the bridge crossings or the Ross Island/Front transfer. I would also never take the sidewalks. The road signs clearly state Bikes In Roadway before each bridge.

Think ahead; look behind; signal your move out; slide into the lane as far to the right as practical. Be consistent. Follow the rules. It works. Same applies to the shift away from RI/Naito – I never took that poorly designed ‘crosswalk’.

The only problems I actually ever had were with other bicyclists being arbitrary. I will say I have called the traffic line at PPD when noticing cars driving in excess of 50 mph there.

I’ve taken Barbur from Capitol all the way North into downtown. It’s not great. It’s not horrible. It’s not for a novice. I’d love this raised path vision, but until that big change happens, we need some small changes.

a) more paint on the road, sharrows and slow signs.

b) more road signs to calm cars, like “share the road” when the bike lanes end randomly. “yield to bikes on bridge” etc.

c) better signs so cyclists don’t get lost, I’ve missed the connection when I wanted to leave Barbur and get to the Sellwood bridge – Better signs to help cyclists navigate the mess when you get near downtown.

FYI. Join the AROW list if people want to get involved in this type of active transportation. We’ll be meeting soon to plan for 2011 projects. One of those involves a change to Oregon law that really limits use of funds for bike projects. Change the law and Barbur could soon have fewer cars and more bikes.

I’ve never had a problem on the bridges there. Worse is going north where traffic splits to Naito. You’re on the right, and have the choice of a ped crossing or a 2 lane merge left. That is only fun with low traffic, or lucky light timing with the last one back at Hamilton.

I ride Barbur almost daily and I like it and think it is fine.
A nice bike lane, not much traffic, easy grade.
I agree coming back into town the merge with Naitto is dangerous and needs some work.
Maybe when Adams gets done putting tracks all over town they could look at just some paint and striping for this stretch. You know, priorities.
The rest of Barbur is fine, spending a bunch of money for some elevated track or something is just a waste.
People might spend some time learning how to ride a bike.

There are a few – very rare. That section is a long stretch with the hillside on the west side and a drop off on the east. It tends to magnify traffic noise, and the area is very unpleasant to be in for long stretches, i.e. at walking speed.

That said, there are a few for which that is their best route on foot to their destination.

pretty much every time I ride into and out of downtown, I use SW Barbur.

I love that everyone seems to think it’s a dangerous stretch of road, because it’s really not. Sure, the bridge crossings south of Capitol Hwy. could use work (for all modes, not just bikes – the pavement is terrible for cars as well), and crossing the intersection at Barbur/Naito going northbound is awful — but there’s no real need for a grade-separated path along the full stretch of Barbur when there are already perfectly good wide usable bike lanes there.

The grade separated path isn’t really needed. Just widen the bridges, stripe the lanes, put in better street lighting, but don’t make me ride on what’s essentially a sidewalk. For now, I’ll be happy to enjoy Barbur (mostly) all to myself, it’s certainly nicer than having to dodge around all those riders you’d find on N Vancouver/Williams. 🙂

Rob;
Thank you for your input. I don’t necessarily mind riding on Barbur. But I respectfully disagree with your post. The bike lanes are (except for the bridges) a decent size. However the high speed traffic, debris, and poor lighting create a ride that’s intimidating to many. The factoid that Steve posted about a 9%-91% gender ratio proves that this is not considered safe to many. Speed is very closely tied to crash rates across the board and would be even more significant on the downhill stretch of Barbur.
I wish you safe and happy riding
Aaron

We agree more on more than you might believe, Aaron. 🙂 I would love to address the high speed traffic, the debris, and the poor lighting on this strech of road. But a grade-separated path and additional pavement markings actually don’t accomplish these things (the speed, debris, and lack of lighting will still all be present if we were to make those changes). And it introduces new issues where none exist currently, plus the money could probably be better spent on other bike infrastructure projects.

In terms of speed and/or crash rates, I’d love to see data specifically tied to SW Barbur that tracks the accidents on this stretch of road between cars/cyclists. Do we have something like that?

The 9/91% gender gap, while regrettable, should not be used as an primary indicator of the quality of the existing facility in this particular location. Look at the bike network in SW Portland as a whole – there are few existing options, and almost all require riding up at least a few fairly steep hills.

Unfortunately, the geography and existing streetscapes are going to create challenges. A holistic approach is needed instead. Why not make sure that we’re implementing the SW Trails Bicycle Facilities Strategy (http://swtrails.org/swtrails_files/SWBicycleFacilitiesStrategy.pdf) to bring the whole network to Platinum status instead of focusing energy on a relatively small stretch of road?

I agree with what Rob said. My usual turn-on/off Barbur is at Capitol where Capitol goes up the hill to Wilson High School. Occasionally I ride on Barbur further south to Multnomah Blvd. I say widen Barbur where it goes over the bridges, and near Multnomah. Forget about grade separated bike lanes that will never be swept of debris.

I’m concerned that that widening the bike lane over the bridges and by Multnomah will wait until they can put light rail down Barbur. Widened bike lanes shouldn’t have to wait, and in my opinion, light rail on Barbur would be a mistake. Rail transit on a street makes that street more difficult to ride.

Whoever is riding on Barbur is already having to handle some challenging streets, such as Beaverton-Hillsdale, Capitol, or Multnomah. If someone can handle BH, they can handle Barbur. I’d rather see the money that would be spent on Barbur for grade separated bike paths used toward fixing the intersection of Beaverton-Hillsdale/Oleson/Scholls. Yes, that intersection is outside Portland City limits. But if Clackamas County can be asked to support a fixed Sellwood bridge, Portland can be asked to support fixing BH/Oleson/Scholls.

And where is the bike facility that will allow a bicyclist to go at 30 mph down the hill on Barbur? Yes, it’s a downhill going into town, from about the intersection of Capitol (downhill from Wilson High School) and Barbur. No, the sidewalk pictured is not such a facility because it has expansion joints every few feet.

There are tons of room for autos and many poorly designed intersections.

Don’t bother with expensive and experimental redesigning of intersections in attempts to make it work.
Go for the “monster truck option”:
make an over head deck bike super highway in the center of Barbur with on and off ramps at reasonable locations. This would allow designers to merge bike traffic back in to auto shared road space wherever it happens to be safest.

Barbur is so much of an eyesore that this can’t possibly detract. It would also allow for easy under deck mounting of street lamps for auto traffic on Barbur: some of these areas are woefully under lit for high speed urban routes.

Kiel and Owen, have you talked with anyone about the bridges? They are the most significant pinch points, but IIRC no one plans to touch them because the cost of replacement would be so high. If you have any more information about the bridges I would be interested to hear what you learned.

We did speak with a few community members and ODOT representatives about the bridges. Factors we’re aware of:

-They’re not getting any wider, in a weight-bearing capacity (they’re very old, and actually supported by WOODEN truss).
-The concrete railing and the existing curb is actually load-bearing… so it can’t be changed.
-Therefor adding cantilevered ‘wings’ to widen the entire bridge is unlikely.
-ODOT is reluctant (or legally unable) to significantly reduce auto lane width, though we’ve been told there’s a chance the outer lanes could be reduced by a foot or more (potentially giving us room for a decent sidewalk extension on one side)

So… there are a lot of constraints to work within, but any small improvement would be quite welcome I would think.

Re: load-bearing curbs – this is true with the majority of bridges in the Portland area. When I sat on the Multnomah PBAC we learned about it with some of the proposals for SW Multnomah County improvements.

When I do go south of Capitol on Barbur, I don’t take the sidewalk on the bridges. The sidewalk is too narrow. And it feels like the railing isn’t high enough. I’m more scared of going over the side of the bridge than of the motor vehicle traffic, so I go in the lane. Whatever improvements are made should include higher railings on the bridges.

I totally agree with Rob about the need for a grade separated facility on Barbur, I never felt particularly threatened by traffic when I used the bike lanes there. If there are concerns about cars getting too close to cyclists I’d just as soon expand the bike lane a bit (maybe give it an extra foot?) and add the reflective bumps near the edge of the lane in order to keep cars at a distance. I’d bet that this option would be less costly than the grade-separated facility while providing the same benefits.

This was a best-case scenario in our minds, and another way to distinguish the lane as being more than a shoulder. Certainly a built-up structure would be expensive, and extra width and/or reflectors would be an improvement on their own.

If you remove the shoulders in favor of grade-separation, it makes the road more hazardous for vehicle traffic, because now there’s no place to pull over safely in the event of a breakdown, etc. All the existing drainage on the roadway would need to be redesigned, since the storm drains are located on the far right-hand side of shoulders and water doesn’t flow uphill.

We were hoping the grade would be mount-able by autos so that it would continue to double as a breakdown lane, although that might not be terribly clear to drivers. Drainage would certainly be a concern. I wonder if covered channels would be helpful.

Tons of leaves and other debris make their way onto the shoulders of this road due to the maple forest and steep hill on the west (southbound) side. Wind and rain can cause the shoulders to be strewn, even the day after it has been swept. Sweeper access (as Matt P. said) and bomb-proof drainage are imperative.

I don’t ride Barbur, but I do fly over it on the Tram twice/day. From that vantage point, it sure looks dangerous. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t ride it as it is, but I know that Mrs Dibbly wouldn’t and she sure wouldn’t like me riding it regularly. And that’s my main point: We’re not going to get our modal share anywhere we want it to be if we’re designing facilities to make me (or many of the people here) comfortable with cycling. The goal has to be to make the roadways (seem) safer for that huge group that is interested in riding, but won’t because of current facilities (or lack of).

Grade separation is a great idea, but, as someone already asked, where is the sidewalk? If the idea is to make this upgrade useful for others besides people on bikes, you have to plan for peds, too.

The problem I have with facilities that seem safer is that they work less well than nothing. And, they are hostile to people trying to ride at something faster than 8mph.

My best (well, worst actually) example of seemingly safe facilities is the grade separated bike path on the north side of Garden Home Road west of Oleson. It exists on the north side, only, not on the south. And it has stop or yield signs for every cross street. Since it’s there, it will take longer for something that’s more usable to be built. But, it looks safe.

I question the assumption that we have to do cycle tracks or other grade separation to address the I-would-ride-but-its-too-scary crowd to increase our mode share. We’ve gotten where we are by building bike lanes. It’s worked so far.

Barbur is a broken street – you can’t walk it, biking it is only for the fit, driving it also sucks. It needs to become a complete street with slower speeds and good bike and pedestrian facilities. Does it really need two (or three) car lanes in each direction? Take away a lane. Give it back to the people!

Joey FTW. I’ve lived 7 years in outer SW & I’ve ridden Barbur 100s of times. (I prefer Terwilliger but Barbur is 2ce as fast.) I drive my car on it even more. I’m one of those “strong and fearless” riders and it still skeezes me out.

I think about “solutions” all the time for those bridges, Naito, Hamilton, and other pain points farther out (near Fred Meyer or Capitol Hill Rd. for ex.)

I keep coming back to the thought that the road is *never* near full auto capacity inside Taylor’s Fy. Traffic might be standing still all over the city but you can still fly up Barbur. In the worst traffic you might have to sit through one cycle at Terwilliger or 19th.

Barbur was built as a highway long before I-5 existed. It’s still striped and engineered as if I-5 doesn’t exist, like there’s no alternative for 50mph+ traffic between Portland and Salem. That’s just nuts.

I second or third that. Excellent point. The stretch depicted retains its rural highway characteristics, though it has urban congestion on either end of a three-mile (or less) stretch. Cars don’t need to be able to race from Terwilliger to Hamilton, just to reenter the urban chaos. The only reason this area retains a rural feel is because it is too steep to develop. But that doesn’t mean cars need to be able to go 50mph.

I don’t understand why anyone would ride on Barbur when you can ride on Terwilliger instead. They both essentially lead to the same place and with the exception of the lake that formed at Terwilliger and Capitol last night it is a much more pleasant ride. The first few commutes on it may seem daunting but with all riding, the more you do it the easier (and better for you) it becomes…unless of course you are Greg Lemond and you just go faster.

For me when commuting by bike from SE to Tigard, Barbur is both faster and getting to and from it is generally safer than getting to and from Tewilliger. Additionally I agree with Rob and Matt with concerns about keeping the bike lane clean if it is raised, and Rob’s comment about water run off. If not properly controlled it could lead to more monster waves hitting riders when buses and other fast or large vehicles pass.

I ride on Barbur instead of Terwilliger because I don’t care to expend more time and energy than I already do to get from point A to point B. It’s not a recreational ride, and it’s not about challenging myself, it’s about efficiency. For the record, I’d rather deal with the faster traffic on Barbur’s wide shoulders than the slower traffic cutting onto the bike lane to straighten every inside curve on Terwilliger.

The ascent and descent numbers don’t make sense to me, since both start at the same place and both end at the same place. The net elevation gain either way should be identical. One way is a net gain of 296 feet, the other way is a net gain of 259.

Anyone have a GPS and care to map both alternatives, or can someone explain what I’m doing wrong with mapmyride?

I’ve ridden Terwilliger and Barbur and Barbur is much faster and doesn’t feel any less safe. The issue I have with Barbur is after it gets back into commercial districts and there are lots of cars pulling out of parking lots etc. It’s pretty hard to engineer a solution to that.

This is great to see. I would love to be part of the energy that makes a difference on this route. I commute by cycle several times a week on this section and find it scary. I also share the fear of being able to see cyclist on this stretch when I drive. It is great to see some organization start to build around making a difference.

Reading these comments is astounding.
The bridges? What is wrong with riding on the far right side of a traffic lane. There is not much traffic on Barbur.
Is this site dedicated to people who don’t ride bikes?
It must be, Barbur is easy as can be.
You know, we don’t have to make all roads for grandma’s riding huffys.
The commuters on Barbur are generally riding a fair distance and all the ones I see each day are doing fine.
Spend your energy teaching kids how to ride a bicycle, apparently a lot of folks here never learned.

The section illustrated above is the section next to the hillside. Traffic speeds are high, traffic volume during commuting hours is fairly high, and there’s really nowhere to pull off to escape the noise. It’s not like the other stretches of Barbur. Not everyone is as comfortable as you at riding high-speed arterials. And many have sensitivity issues to noise, exhaust, etc. Ideas like this are valuable to find better solutions for these people.

Unfortunately the ideas we’ve illustrated here don’t deal with general atmosphere problems such as noise (Barbur would need a bigger overhaul to tackle that one). There have been some ideas put forward about using an off-road trail East of Barbur as a bike connection, which would certainly be the most pleasant riding experience. Of course that might require new bike / ped bridges parallel to the existing viaduct (an issue that came up at BTA meeting recently).

Elitist much?
I’m as fearless as the next guy (been skydiving, even) but Barbur is a tough sell for me and I can imagine it’s simply a non-starter for most people. C’mon, do you want more people cycling or fewer?

While it is tempting to pick apart the Friends of Barbur proposals and identify concerns within them, the important point is this: Barbur sorely needs improvements, and it won’t happen without significant pressure from the populace.

I really like the grade separation personally, but share some skepticism that ODOT would spring for such a high-quality bike facility here. You have to appreciate the outside-the-box thinking here with their proposed solution, even if it’s not what you would suggest.

I’m inspired by Kiel & Owen’s work: They are two people determined to re-ignite grassroots momentum for a better Barbur. I hope others will support Friends of Barbur in their work, and perhaps a few more Portlanders will be activated to take on a similar push for improvements in their neighborhood.

If they can put bikes on 1 side and walkers on the other- then why can’t they do the same for the new Sellwood bridge? It would make everybody happy (except for 1 cranky person writing letters to the A.D.A.)

I know this is just an artists rendition, but it’s an inappropriate use of the “sharrow”, which is intended for facilities shared with motor vehicles (i.e. roadway) and not separate {“ghettoized”} cycling infrastructure.

I am about as fealess of a cyclist as they come, I grew up riding in Suburban Ohio!

I ride Barbur a good bit to get into and out of downtown from my home on Hwy 10, and I will agree that it is just a weird route, and definitely unsafe in some spots.

The route from Naito to Barbur is indeed strange, I mean all of a sudden you’re on a divided highway with no bike lane, then another divided lane comes at you from your right, then you finally get a bike lane in a tunnel, only to be shuttled up on the to the sidewalk on the other end, then dumped out into a bike lane with 50 mph traffic (I do think this section is okay).

I do have problems with the bridges and the turn off for Hillsdale/Hwy 10. This is a steep, sharp turn, and even taking it at pretty good speed, I am always a little nervous a car is going to rear end me, especially at night.

I was riding back from the waterfront this summer with a friend from Seattle, we both have ridden for decades and raced a pretty high level, so neither of us is a “nervous” rider. WE were taking the route up Naito to Barbur, and he turns to me and says “How did we get on a highway all of a sudden, you ride this way?”. I thought it was funny but also kind of sad.

This group is a step in the right direction. I really think I will have trouble convincing my wife to take this route to downtown, especially coming back from downtown, especially at night.

I have not checked your facts, mello yello, but I’ve witnessed many high-speed close calls at the Naito/Barbur split northbound, and at the Hwy 10 (Capitol Highway) exit southbound, plus the two bridges in both directions, where bikes taking the lane are at a 10 to 30mph speed disadvantage. I still ride it. I’m not scared for myself, but I cringe at the thought of someone getting greased, because too many people think it’s ok for cars to haul ass and jockey for position even when they’re sharing lanes.

Thank you mello,
Barbur is not dangerous and the few commuters who ride it regularly know it.
All the others, don’t know what they are talking about.
The section going into and out of downtown needs some paint striping and a bit of attention, the rest is a bike lane and needs nothing.
Doveness, sorry, if this scares you, stick to the Springwater trail
Matt P,
Yes it is a high speed arterial with a good bike lane, what will change that?
The noise, etc. will not go down by spending a bunch of money on some stupid raised bikepath.
It also makes it no less dangerous. If a car is going to swerve off the road into a striped bikelane, it will swerve into some elevated path.
This is a road for dedicated long distance commuters. I ride it for my 13 mile commute to Washington square, most others do the same from SW Portland into town.
All you do gooders here don’t have a problem with Adams and the city fathers spending MILLIONS on street car rails all over town. Rails that are more dangerous to me than cars.
Street cars that I, as a cyclist, will not use.
Spend your time convincing the local politicians to spend a fraction of the money on just a little paint and a few signs and stop worrying about the few hard core commuters that use Barbur and don’t have a problem with it.

So you and your hero brethren don’t have a problem, and “All the others, don’t know what they are talking about.” Thanks for clarifying that. If I had known earlier that you commuted 13 miles I never would have opened my mouth. I’ll try to stay off your “dedicated” road in the future, too. Between you and the cars, though, there’s hardly any “un-dedicated” roads anymore. Maybe if I achieve your 13-mile glory (you don’t stop for cookies, or anything?) they’ll give me my own dedicated road one day, then I can be intolerant of everyone else, because they’ll see what a hero I am.

A somewhat gruesome story my high school driver’s ed teacher told me…When he was a teenager, an accident on this stretch of barbur resulted in six high school classmates being decapitated by the edge of the upper windshield of a convertible they were riding in — one of those old fifties convertibles made of solid steel with no crumple zones.

To me this isn’t about the steely nerved studs who already brave Barbur nor is it about the gender inequality in the cyclist mix. It is about getting more people onto bicycles, as it is typically is whenever a separated facility is introduced.
Some of the folks above state they have no problem riding on Barbur. I’m sure that’s true, FOR THEM. It is not, however; true for EVERYONE.

My question to those who are reasonable enough to rise above the banter and name calling is this:
Shouldn’t everyone ( families, young or elderly folks, less confident/beginner cyclists etc…) feel safe riding on this street if they need/want to use it to access part of the city otherwise only reachable by car?

Should people have a right to “feel” safe or to simply have safe (enough) facilities? While I agree a balance does need to be struck, people’s feelings are often irrational and the best solution sometimes is to get better/more confident as opposed to wrapping the world in safety foam.

@Fixedale I ride from 72nd all the way to the curves, and its a task I tell ya, getting to barbur is a challenge to. I think the biggest issue is 99 feeding into streets like this. * they just bloat up after time *
no prob riding just cars all over the place speeding and stinking up the area.. ohh the I-5 t section ugly

I’ve been riding downtown from SW for about 14 years using Terwilliger. It is about the same length of time going into town as the Barbur route. Strangely, I think it takes less effort, more coasting than the Barbur inbound. It takes (me) about 7 or 8 minutes longer to ride home up Terwilliger than to ride up Barbur. At the south end these two street cross at a point beyond the “no man’s land”. The north end dumps you into the downtown grid which is perfect for me. As for the “steep” uphill part, for me I would rather spend the extra time and effort than risk being clipped by a car going 40 mph plus.

They’re not trying to to improve Barbur for you or the other scant people that already use it (although I’m sure we will also benefit). They’re trying to improve it for the hundreds, if not thousands of people who don’t use it. The people who are too afraid to use it right now.

It’s not all about you, it’s about making the cycling infrastructure better than it is in the SW, and getting more people out onto the road. It’s about making the route a better option for people to get to downtown (it’s about the only option for some).

Would you feel safe taking your children on Barbur? And if not, what route would you use to ride with your kids into downtown from the SW, certainly not Terwilliger? And yet those are the only two options presently available.

Hmmm, I haven’t been described as “scant” in, ohh… ever. Oh, wait. You mean that there are not very many people riding Barbur now. 😎

Joking aside, you say that the proposed improvements are not for us who are riding Barbur now. The improvements are for the theoretical silent majority who are not riding Barbur now, but who might if only it wasn’t so scary.

I’ve been an software engineer for 30 years. When I do a project, I have to listen to what the users tell me that they want. I also have to figure out what the users really need. Much of the time, what the users want and what I think they need is 100% the same thing. Sometimes, it’s 0%. Often, it’s somewhere in between. If I build something that is not 100% what the users want, but what I think they need instead, I better be prepared to explain the parts that I did not build to the users’ specifications. And I should expect that I’ll have to provide that explanation multiple times.

In the case of Barbur, old&slow, Rob, perhaps some of the other existing users, and I, are saying that the first priority is widening the bridges. In this project, widened bridges are, I think, the part everyone agrees on. Elevated bike lanes are something the project engineers (in this case Kiel and Owen) think the users want.

Matt Picio and I point out that an elevated bike lane will collect debris because the street sweeper won’t be able to sweep it as easily. I didn’t see a machete like Carrie did. Instead I ran across a piece of tire chain and tire flattening shrapnel. See my post, with pictures, in the forums, at http://bikeportland.org/forum/showpost.php?p=25172&postcount=695 . Rob also thought that grade separation won’t help with debris. Old&slow, Rob, and I thought that the money for a grade separation was better spent elsewhere. I’d rather see that money go toward fixing Crash Corner, also known as Beaverton-Hillsdale/Oleson/Scholls. I pointed out that 30 mph on a sidewalk-like elevated bike lane on Barbur with expansion joints every few feet will NOT be an improvement.

We’re the existing users. If you go against what we say we need, then you better be prepared to offer some really solid arguments as to why. Merely saying that there’s hundreds of potential riders who will come out and ride Barbur if it “feels safer” is insufficient. The proposed fixes won’t do anything about the noise. An elevated bike track won’t won’t stop a 50 mph car any better than a painted bike lane. And an elevated track will collect more debris, which creates its own safety hazard.

dave, I do get it.
It is not about me, it is about money and priorities.
There is no money for a separated or elevated bikepath on Barbur. Look how much it cost to do a few blocks of SW broadway.
I am all for spending money on bike facilities, but the cities priority for transportation funding is for millions for streetcars. There is no money for both so all the people on this site who want Barbur fixed, want all kinds of money spent for bike facilities, quit voting for people who want to build streetcars when buses running on electric lines like Seattle has would serve the same purpose.
Streetcars have been discussed here and the same people who want money for bikes seem to also like the streetcars. Choices have to be made and the choice in this town is for streetcars over bikes.
Don’t blame my attitude for it.

“… Choices have to be made and the choice in this town is for streetcars over bikes. …” OLD&SLOW

That’s not really true. Some choices have been made for streetcars and bikes over passenger car motor vehicles regularly used to transport a single person at a time…but not streetcars over bikes. True, streetcar tracks pose a challenge to bike use on streets with them, but people can and do learn how to overcome the obstacle until future road infrastructure technology developments can make tracks easier for bikes to cross.

There are many people that aren’t able, and will never be able to rely on a bike for transportation. In many situations, for everyone, the streetcar is a better means of transporting them than a single occupancy passenger car.

With the large volume of fast motor vehicle traffic Barbur Blvd is obliged to serve, Barbur is a lousy road to ride a bike on. I’m not sure how much more favorable the proposed improvements can make the street be to a wider spectrum of rider than currently use the the road. It’s worth looking into though.

This illustrates yet another problem with off-street bike paths. Entities like the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) view bike paths as a corridor they can use for whatever construction activities they have in mind. After all, it’s just a bike path, right? The bicyclists can go recreate elsewhere. The pressure sewer is one example. Another is the Oaks Bottom project that was to disrupt the Springwater. BES didn’t do that project, yet, due to funding, according to Jonathan’s post at http://bikeportland.org/2010/10/19/oaks-bottom-project-delay-will-postpone-springwater-trail-closure-41298

The elevated treatment doesn’t fix any of the problems that a widened bike lane and reflective bumps couldn’t also fix (at a fraction of the cost). I support improvements (despite the fact that I always felt safe riding this route myself), but cost must be considered.

I’ve actually had more trouble heading inbound with cars on Terwilliger than Barbur. To take Terwilliger you need to merge left 2 lanes from Capitol, then climb, descend, and climb some more. The final descent into downtown is rather quick, and the bike lanes are not wide enough for that speed, so I take the lane. I have been honked at numerous times for that.

Barbur is is flatter, and lower, with a lower likelihood of meeting ice during the winter. Cars seem to be considerate making the right to go up Capitol. I signal left, to go straight, as in merging into the lane some, and people tend to slow. No luck at Naito northbound, but there is always the sidewalk (where you would get right of way following the crosswalk rules) or merging in low traffic.

Just fix the naito interchange and sweep the bike lanes more frequently. The lanes are plenty wide already, and I have NEVER felt afraid commuting up and down Barbur for 2 years. If ODOT ever has so much money that they start to throw it at these proposals, I’d rather take a tax cut.

And I love the stab at women riders- they all must be weak and afraid because they are underrepresented on Barbur!

One of the problems with the bike lanes of Barbur Blvd is debris, especially downhill because speeds are up. Yes, some of the lower section has been swept recently, but Barbur is covered with gravel around Capitol Hwy area and east. The next is the two bridges. Lanes could be narrowed a smidge, and a bike lane delineated with reflective paint/bumps would help. Another is the disappearing bike lane (can’t land-mark exact location—just west of SW Spring Garden, southbound?).

The two biggest concerns with riding Barbur Blvd involve the bridges and (northbound) the Naito Pkwy divergence. The proposed raised bike/pedestrian lane with sudden merges into traffic before the two bridges is a disaster in the planning, an expensive one well described in preceding comments. What to do about the Naito Pkwy divergence? A little common sense will go a long way in saving your life. The crosswalk works, just be patient. Most of the time traffic is sparse and the two-lane merge is easy.

All things considered, riding Barbur Blvd is not as bad as one would believe. Yes, it is very noisy, traffic is fast, and the bike lane iffy in places, but as a whole the bike lanes are fairly wide and I find the majority of drivers fairly courteous to cyclists.

My recommendation is to better delineate car traffic from bike traffic by adding reflective paint/bumps to the line separating the bike lane from traffic, provide a lane for bicycles on the bridges, and provide a continuous, no gaps bike lane. Repaving some bumpy/chopped-up sections and reconfiguring rain drains would help, too.

This is not a street I prefer to ride and would steer clear of it if I could, but I must use it. It’s not that bad. There are much worse.

I used to take Barbur every day for a commute during one summer. It’s not the worst route, but in the dark going home towards downtown it always felt just a little bit sketchy. especially the birdges. It’s nice to plan ahead and wait for no cars, but people drive VERY vast on this road. Some improvements would be welcome for people riding on it, I’m sure!

For a video reference, I just posted helmet cam video of my route starting on Capitol by Wilson HIgh School to the Barbur/Naito split. This was taken about 8:45 AM 12/14/2010. I included the part on Capitol so that Kiel and Owen are aware that some bicyclists really are going fast on Barbur, at least northbound. And, the part on Capitol also provides some context for some of the riding conditions for some of the bicyclists before they get to Barbur. The video is about 5 minutes long.

At the end of the video is an example of one of the hazards I encounter at the Barbur/Naito split. Bicycle traffic on the jug handle sidewalk has a Yield sign, as you can see in the video. So, I guess, if I am riding, I’m required to wait for the traffic to clear. Yesterday, a car in the near lane decided to stop for me anyway. The hazard is that a typical user will think, “Oh, traffic is stopping for me. I can proceed.” But, sometimes the far lane does NOT stop. You can see this on the video. Two more cars went through the far lane before a 3rd one stopped.

My gut feel is that it’s just as hazardous to try to make a vehicular merge as to attempt to cross using the jug handle sidewalk. So which I do on any particular day depends on how much traffic is present and how fast I feel like pedalling. I have no idea what to recommend others do here, except that if you do the jug handle, make sure BOTH motor vehicle lanes are safe to cross.

(Assuming this works) here’s youtube link:

Other things to note: at Hamilton, I take the lane to avoid a potential right hook by the right-turning car in front of me, which you can see, and the right-turning car behind me, which doesn’t show up in the video but which I could see in my mirror.

Coincidentally, there is another bicyclist also going northbound on Barbur. I don’t know who he is.

This video does NOT include the part of Barbur with the bridges which everyone seems to agree needs to be fixed, somehow.

That jug-handle is incredibly dangerous. When I use it, I dismount, become a pedestrian, and wait for traffic in the near lane to stop — then I walk out into the crosswalk while rolling my bike several feet in front of my body (better that the car in the far lane hits it instead of me). Way too many close calls and squealing brakes in this area during my commutes in the last year have taught me that this is the best way to approach this one.

It’s a marked crosswalk, so vehicle traffic is required to yield to pedestrians under the law, but I usually have to wait (and smile and wave) to get anyone to even think about slowing down. I’ve never ever seen police enforce the crosswalk laws here during rush hour.

There are two yellow pedestrian crossing signs on the lead-up to the intersection, and one Yield sign just past the crosswalk. This signage is just about completely useless.

The Yield sign isn’t visible until traffic is nearly through the crosswalk (and is partially-covered by the overgrown tree), and the pedestrian crossing sign closest to the crosswalk is often difficult to see, because it is hard to find it between the lightpost and the overflow parked vehicles near the curbside from DLR Nordic (auto service center).

Alternatively, one can avoid the area altogether by hanging a right from Barbur at SW Hamilton, riding down the hill and making a left onto SW Corbett, then going through the tunnel under Naito on SW Grover, and connecting to SW 1st Ave northbound into the city.

I’ll cop to being one of the few females who use Barbur, but I do it rarely and the only reason I ride it at all is because I forget what fear feels like in between my trips on that road. I count the bridges on Barbur as the scariest sections of any road I travel in or around Portland. (As background, I grew up bike commuting here over the last decade, have never owned a car, and I have fine bike skills.) I’m no fan of wet train tracks, but they just don’t hold a candle to the terrors of those sections of Barbur.

It’s just those bridges. I have no problem with the rest of the road–sure, there’s a weird merge at the north end, it collects debris, and the cars are fast and loud, but the bike lanes are quite nice… until they suddenly end. You’re suddenly at the mercy of a driver hurtling 35 mph faster than you who hasn’t really thought about what the bike merge signs actually mean. I hate having to signal a merge into 50+ mph traffic. I hate being passed by a honking car with less than a foot of space to spare because the driver refuses to slow down and share the lane for less than a minute. I hate being afraid of being forced into a curb to avoid being hit by someone like this. I hate having to stop and wait for the traffic to clear before I can continue if someone won’t let me merge in the first place.

Most of all, I hate that this road isn’t safe for my mother to ride on. It’s directly between her home and mine, but I can’t stand the thought of her battling those conditions to come visit me. Work a continuous bike lane into some new bridges and it’ll be a whole new route.

I am very excited to see the proposed plans for Barbur Blvd. Some parts of it are very frightening to ride, particularly the awful bridges. I understand people’s concerns about debris and water collecting on a separated bike lane. The city has to keep debris out of the cycle track on Broadway and the cycletrack under construction on NE Cully. I know that the row of parked cars on Broadway keeps out some of the debris, but it still needs cleaning. If the city can manage this perhaps it can also be managed on Barbur.

A handrail, wall, and even bollards prevent street sweeping equipment from cleaning up the bicycle facility. And don’t expect the City to exert extra effort to find, purchase, and run a bicycle lane sized street sweeper down a separated bike lane.

And, occasionally, I want to pass a slower rider, or a pedestrian, by waiting for the motor vehicle lane to clear, and going around. More often, I’m the slower rider who gets passed, and I appreciate it when the passer uses the motor vehicle lane to go around. If you have a separated facility it has to be wide enough to allow one bicycle to pass another. That is, it has to be wider than the bike lane that is there now, except for the bridges.

Occasionally, I ride the MUP paralleling Hwy 26 from Cedar Mills to Sylvan. It’s separated from the highway by maybe 30′, but it’s kept clean. Biggest issue with it probably is that despite quite a luxurious width as MUP’s go…I’ll guess 8′-10′ …being a two-way and on a long, considerable grade, it’s potentially very dangerous for cyclists approaching from opposite directions. Downhill traffic can get going 25-30mph quite easily.

Since they move slower and occupy less space, given that the path is mostly straight, pedestrians can be easier to see in advance than cyclists, allowing cyclists to give them ample room when passing. Still, for pedestrians, I’ve got to think that walking on this path can be terrifying with the approach of a cyclist.

It’s a nice path,. My observation is that it gets a lot of use, but generally, I feel more at ease when riding main roads that I know allow me to avoid coming close to other cyclists and pedestrians. One smaller, annoying thing about this path is that its concrete paving has substantial expansion joints that are jarring to ride over, even when the speed is fairly low.

The Friends of Barbur article on bikeportland.org inspired me to get a more complete helmet cam video of Barbur.

I had planned to do this on December 16, 2010, since I had the day off. Then, the tragic death of Ms. Burke happened. I thought, “should I not do this video because it is somehow disrespectful to Ms. Burke?” But I then thought that a drunk driver should not have veto power over people trying to improve conditions for bicyclists.

So, I went ahead. It actually took a second day due to a depleted helmet cam battery. I have covered both north and southbound Barbur from Hall and Barbur in Tigard, Oregon, to Barbur and Lane in Portland, Oregon. I split the video up into youtube-sized pieces (15 minutes maximum.) (Note that actually, Barbur west of I-5 is Pacific Highway, at least on Google maps.)

So far I’ve edited the southbound videos and posted them on youtube. When I previously tried to embed a youtube video here, it did not work. So here are links:

As I was doing this, I had several thoughts about requirements for a Barbur Blvd. redesign:

1. Are we designing a 10 MPH bicycle facility, or a posted speed limit bicycle facility? Will the proposed pavement surface work for bicycles at 30 MPH?

2. Are we designing a facility to be used by more than one bicyclist at a time? Will those two bicyclists always go the same speed? If not, is there room for one bicyclist to pass the other? Same question, but for 20 bicyclists. Same question, but for 200 bicyclists. Will bicyclists use the motor vehicle lane for passing, if the motor vehicle lane is clear? How will they do that if there is a bollard, wall, handrail, or rumble strips separating the bicycle lane and the motor vehicle lane?

3. Are we designing a facility which will be shared by pedestrians and wheelchair users?

4. Do we allow bicyclists to do vehicular left turns?

5. Are we designing a facility that is safer, as safe, or less safe than the other bicycle facilities (Capitol, Beaverton-Hillsdale, Multnomah, etc.) which provide bicycle access to Barbur?

6. Don’t forget the glass, leaves, metal shrapnel from tire chains, other tire flattening junk, blackberry vines and other vegetation that can potentially accumulate in a bicycle facility. How will it get cleaned out/cut back/swept up?

7. Assume there is unlimited funding. Then of course we would fix Barbur and every other street as we liked, with possibly even multiple facilities targeted for different types of riders (fearless, confident, timid, fast, slow, etc.) Now, realize that there is limited funding. Is the extra money to provide platinum plated, solid gold, super-deluxe comfort and safety on Barbur, going to starve another bicycle project which intends to provide something more than just the bare minimum? In other words, will the money for miles of grade separated bike path on Barbur between Hamilton and Terwilliger really be better spent on, say, the Beaverton-Hillsdale/Oleson/Scholls intersection, known to locals as crash corner? Or widening and providing a continuous bicycle lane on Pacific Highway (aka Barbur west of I-5) near 65th?

What do I think should be done? Widen the bridges, the section near where Multnomah splits off, and near 65th on Pacific Highway. Repaint the bike lane markings. Lower the speed limits. Allow bicycles to make vehicular left turns. I would prefer to have pedestrians on a separated sidewalk. But since there are width issues here, that may not be possible. No rumble strips, walls, bollards, etc., because they introduce their own hazards, and spend money which would be better used elsewhere.

FWIW, your video seems to me completely respectful of Ms. Burke and all other vulnerable users of that public road. Thanks for taking the time to make it.

I posted a pic of an ogee curb to illustrate the idea. It’s a compromise because while a street sweeper can sweep over it, and while a bike can navigate up and down it (depending on speed, equipment and skill), an errant car can also drive over it more easily than a square-section curb. Still, drivers will notice it and feel it more than just a painted line (which should also be used), and the raised bike/ped lane gives greater distinction from a road shoulder and offers better drainage. My guess is the biggest obstacle to considering it is bureaucratic: it may not be in design standards for a road such as Barbur.

Thanks for posting these, they are great. The Coronado to 60th really highlights that awful crossing. Normally I just take the sidewalk over the 5, how was riding with traffic?

Plus I appreciate your Transit center to Bertha link starting at 4:15 and that horrible no/limited shoulder. This is especially dangerous when cars speed ahead of cyclists and quickly pull in front of you trying to make the next right.

I hadn’t ridden that section of Barbur northbound for a long time, if ever. So I just assumed that the sidewalk on the bridge over I-5 would be like many other sidewalks on Barbur bridges: narrow with a low railing. So, I guessed that I should just stay on the roadway. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t morning rush hour when I anticipate motor vehicle traffic would be a lot worse. So if I was to do it again, since I’m going slowly up a hill, I _might_ take the sidewalk there. On the other hand, the sidewalk ends at 60th, which you can see near the end of the video. If you are on the sidewalk, you then have to wait for a gap in traffic to get on the roadway. You don’t have to wait for the gap if you are on the roadway already.

Scarier than the I-5 crossing was what happened at the start of the next video at about 0:57 where the two ODOT trucks passed me in front of the Westview Terrace Apartments.

In the Transit Center to Bertha video, the next right you refer to is at 4:56, onto one of the segments of Spring Garden, right? There is an entrance ramp for I-5 about 500 feet down that segment of Spring Garden, according to Google maps. Do you think that the cars are speeding up, anticipating going faster on I-5? I think that other posters on bikeportland.org have noted similar anticipatory speedup behavior on the I-5 on-ramps near NE Broadway.

Yikes, I did not watch the video when the ODOT trucks passed and will keep that in mind when next at that spot. I generally treat that as if it were a merge with traffic because of that curb which has helped with busses or loaded semis/

You are correct, taking the sidewalk over I-5 can lead to an awkward merge with traffic at the other end though I find it similar to the one you had using the lights near the on-ramp. When I bike commute, I am traveling from inner Portland to Tigard so traffic is nicer. Generally there is a window or friendly driver letting me in in good time.

After the jug handle and that I-5 crossing we have been discussing, the worst part of the commute north is roughly between 24th and 20th where there is no bike path and a narrow/non-existent shoulder. The cars that frighten me the most are the ones trying to pass me without much room and at high speeds before they take a right onto Spring Garden. Those cars do not want to wait as I pass by Spring Garden.

Overall though, it is a pleasant enough commute and I should do it by mike more often.

Seth,
Great footage, to start with. Just wanted to add in the case of the ODOT trucks and your comment from YouTube: “The second ODOT truck has what I think is a storm sewer vacuum mounted on it. I wish it would pay a visit to some of the storm drains on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway” – You were, in fact, passed by three ODOT trucks. The first one was not as big, but part of the same asphalt repair crew. The first big truck had asphalt in a heated box. The second (Third) truck, which I notice actually gave you half a lane, had a crash attenuator (the big tubing) and message board mounted to it. No vaccuum. Its job? To give early warning to the public, and to protect the ODOT crew from traffic approaching from the rear. Ironic?

Definitely a scary constriction point. I’ve never ridden that stretch, and it’s eye-opening to get the bike POV. This just seemed like an opportunity to address public perspective of ODOT, as that perspective often seems to be askew. Essentially, it seemed like you were implying that that crew could be better serving your needs elsewhere, when in fact they were very likely repairing surface damage on the very road you were riding.